More N.J. students pass alternate high school graduation test

Michael Mancuso/The Times of TrentonNotre Dame High School graduate Cat Barood hugs classmate Dondrey Gumbs following commencement ceremonies held in the Sovereign Bank Arena.

TRENTON — A higher percentage of struggling high school seniors passed New Jersey’s alternate high school graduation exam in December, compared to the previous year, according to state test data.

But a Newark-based school advocacy group, the Education Law Center, cautioned that the numbers still leave large numbers of seniors at risk of not graduating in June.

Just under 11,000 high school seniors took the Alternative High School Assessment in math, and about 6,000 were tested in language arts, according to Department of Education officials. About 37 percent of students scored passing grades in each subject, according to preliminary numbers.

By comparison, in December 2009 about 34 percent passed the math test and only 10 percent passed language arts.

State education officials said they were pleased more students earned passing scores than in the previous year, but noted that not all of those students tested had completed the full exam. The alternate test is comprised of "performance assessment tasks" — open-ended questions designed to let students demonstrate their knowledge — and some students have not yet taken all of the tasks, said DOE Director of Assessments Jeffrey Hauger.

Students who did not pass the AHSA in December will have another chance in April. "Every time this exam is administered, more and more will pass it," said education department spokesman Alan Guenther.

New Jersey students must either pass the state’s standardized test — the High School Proficiency Assessment — or the alternate exam, to earn a high school diploma. Students take the alternate high school exam after failing the HSPA twice.

Last year, the state tightened up its alternate exam, following criticism that a previous alternate test had become too easy to pass, and failure rates for high school seniors shot up. Thousands of kids went through an appeal process last year, allowing some to graduate. But about 3,000 students did not receive diplomas last year because of failure to pass the test, state officials said.

The Education Law Center charged that the state has not reliably tracked those students. "The absence of attention to this test-driven increase in high school dropouts is striking," said Stan Karp, director of the ELC’s Secondary Reform Project.

Guenther said the state is still collecting data, however. "The AHSA requires students show they have acquired skills necessary to earn a diploma, it doesn’t simply pass everybody," he said.

One major difference in the alternative exams is that the old one was graded by teachers known to the students, while the AHSA is graded by an outside firm, Measurement Inc. of North Carolina. The state spends about $550,000 per year on the AHSA, Guenther said.